Minnesota's in the Middle

All things Minnesota politics

Friday, September 29, 2006

Where is the Independence Party

I find it comical when the media who does a relatively poor job covering the Independence Party does a story asking where the Independence Party is. There are comparisons that can be made that make it clear that we are not as big and organized as the Democrats and Republicans, but in general the party and our candidates are doing the things they need to do to be successful. And on the issues it is clear the voters are with us. The real question should be where's the media particularly in the case of John Binkowski. Here’s a tip to the media, if your doing an entire article revolving around the Fair Tax and the 6th CD race the one candidate that has held a press conference to discuss his support, and mentioned it in every debate should probably get more then one line regardless of poll #'s.

Where’s the Independence Party? Right here staring directly in your direction. If you choose to look in the other direction I guess there’s not much we can do about it, but to even ask the question in light of your willingness to ignore is laughable.

If past history is any indication #'s in September mean next to nothing in Minnesota.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

GOP convention

I've spent all day wondering why I should care, and I think I've figured it out. The entire nation would love to have something like the Independence Party gaining momentum prior to the 2008 elections. The best way for that momentum to start is by electing some independent candidates here so that in 2008 when the media is bored with the same old tired worn out speeches we see at convention after convention, they will interview congresswomen Tammy Lee, Governor Peter Hutchinson, Congressman John Binkowski, and Senator Robert Fitzgerald. Once that happens the public will be ready to jump on board for whoever the independent candidate for president happens to be. An Independent considering a run for president would be wise to do everything in there power to get those four elected this fall. It is after all better to have something built up before you try to come in from the top, even if it's not all that practical in most cases.

So hey I think I'll be out of town that week, but there might be some positive from this insane circus after all.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Kinky Friedman

The race for governor in Texas is by far the most interesting in the country with Kinky Friedman running a Jesse Ventura style campaign polling at around 20%, along with a second independent candidate polling in double digits. It is conceivable that the winner of this election will have as little as 32% or 33% of the vote.

Check out some of Kinkys ads on you tube. If for no other reason because you don't need to see another ad where a candidate for Senate with no charisma uses the word gonna.

It's an issue

At the core of the Independence Party is the issue of campaign finance reform, and special interest money. It is an issue that Democrats and Republicans can not counter at all. The problem with the issue is that it does not traditionally drive voters choices, however this survey suggest it is the #1 issue on the voters minds this election cycle. While Amy Klobuchar and Mark Kennedy take dollar after dollar from all interest groups including those that give to both sides clearly indicating they intend to buy influence Independence Party candidates across the board will take no part in it. It's political corruption at it's finest and everyone knows it. Amy Klobuchar eagerly seeks out bribes, Mark Kennedy eagerly seeks out bribes. When you link everything together it's criminal on their part, and it looks like the public is ready to call these shameful people on it (sorry no kind words can be offered to those that think so little of serving the public that they are eager to participate in this element of politics).

Cut the bribes out of politics and we all get more for less. Remember when we pay taxes those are our dollars, and should efficiently come back to the public as a whole and not campaign donors.

Monday, September 25, 2006

Something unexplainable is going on

If national polls were showing Amy Klobuchar at 56%, 57% and 54%, and then the Star Tribune came out with a poll showing her at 25% followed up with a Pioneer Press poll showing her at 9% we would be having a criminal investigation, as it would be apparent some sort of fraud was going on. While the %'s are a little different the exact same thing is happing to Robert Fitzgerald the 3 most recent polls that didn't hit the front page of the Star Tribune or Pioneer press show him at 8% (Survey USA), 8% (Rasmussen), 7% Humphrey (institute). At the exact same time as that Humphrey institute poll a Pioneer Press poll was conducted showing him at 1% and a week prior the Star Tribune poll showed him at 3%. Sampling error does not begin to explain this kind of pattern, unintentional human error might, but if it does then a couple pollsters need to start explaining.

One things for certain when one poll shows one candidate at 7% and at the same time another shows that same candidate at 1% and the article in the pioneer press does not make mention of the other result, and the newspaper includes info on Klobuchar and Kennedy , but not Fitzgerald they end up effecting our democracy in ways they claim they are not willing to touch. The Jesse Ventura story sold many many newspapers, and yet for whatever reason these newspapers are unwilling to report the whole story, in fear that another third party candidate might be successful.

Now why on earth would a thing like this be going on? Thats a direct question, I know who reads this blog, I expect answers.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

The path to victory

Unfortunately I have to counter Chris Truscott's claim that Peter Hutchinson can't win and will help reelect Tim Pawlenty. First of all while I don't care much I'm starting to feel, and poll data seems to reflect that a Hutchinson campaign that falls short is going to mean a Governor Hatch, and that’s not something I want to see. That being said I don't care to much who finishes second behind Peter Hutchinson, and I remain optimistic at the end of this campaign the voters are going to see one clear choice and again see a reason to vote.

Jesse Ventura did it with a lot of young people and while some will say they were acting like fools, you can't underestimate how many of them, how many of us, went out to vote for Jesse because he represented a vision for the future. Sure he did some things that were not in our personal best interest at the time, but it was clear he was looking out for all Minnesotan's from young children to seniors, and wasn't going to worry about playing it safe when he had an opportunity to do what was right.

The new generation of young people is going to see things in Peter Hutchinson that excite them. They are going to see real vision and a real options. They will feel they can be heard once again. Peter also has the added luxury of 29 year old Robert Fitzgerald running for US Senate as well as 27 year old John Binkowski bidding for the most competitive congressional seat in the state these two candidates will help drive the young vote to the Independence Party. We also are going to have debates, and while I would like to see the media make the call on which debates are on rather then the Governor the people of Minnesota will seek out these debates and use them to make an educated decision. After hearing the first debate and the response from the media, I have to say Peter Hutchinson is going to do what Jesse did and Tim Penny didn't, he is going to get the voters on his side in the debates. When that happens the polls will start to jump from 9 to 13 to 18 to 25 to 31 to victory on election day.

Now if we want to worry about who finishes second, I'm ready to have that conversation as it is an important factor in determining what mandate Hutchinson is given.

Courage

Now that Mark Kennedy has shown the strength and courage of putting his web site back up, I just thought I would give you an opportunity to confirm that all major Independence Party candidates have that same Courage.

Friday, September 22, 2006

Heres a shocker

The Mark Kennedy campaign in hiding their web site from all Minnesotan's concerned about the issues that will effect us for the next six years, is simply playing games. They have no security concern, they are simply desperate because Minnesotan's aren't buying into his message of being a good republican one day, an independent the other all while driving the same conservative agenda that only works in the 6th congressional district and Texas.

Mark Kennedy is blatantly lying to each and every Minnesotan that visits his web site. A few questions that need to be answered. Was a Kennedy staffer involved in making sure the information about the Kennedy ad dropped in the lap of a liberal blogger and ultimately the Klobuchar campaign? Will the Klobuchar campaign rehire the staffer who did absolutely nothing wrong? And are any of the candidates outside of Robert Fitzgerald ready to focus on issues?

Mark Kennedy, coward, day 2

He can keep his fundraising links up, but it's just to scary for him to open up his stances on the issues. Give me an f-ing break. If MR Kennedy is such a coward he should drop out of the race. This is Mark Dayton all over again, but 10 times worse. Open up your god damn web site or exit the race, it's time for the games to end.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Yeah sure Mark

Mark Kennedy's campaign is pretending to shut down his web site down due to security concerns. It was just a year and half ago that this Senate seat became an open seat, as Mark Dayton committed political suicide by closing his office down due to real security concerns on his part. The most comical aspect of this is they have left their fundraising link up, the one place a hacker could do real damage.

It should be noted this has nothing to do with hacking, and everything to do with the careless actions Kennedy's ad firm took in not securing confidential material. If a similar event happens with Mark Kennedy as a US Senator and critical information is carelessly allowed into the hands of people intending to do real harm, I sure as heck hope his reaction is somewhat more mature.

Mark Kennedy employs bloggers who would gladly grab similar information from his opposition, he knows better than to try to pull a stunt like this. Could it be that Mark Kennedy simply doesn't want the voters see where he stands on the issues? I'd be willing to bet they didn't actually secure the site, and a hacker would be able to see the entire site although I don't encourage anyone to try.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Peter Hutchinson challanges, Tim Pawlenty caves

Peter Hutchinson finally took his complaint about the lack of debates in the Governors race to the media at the capital, and into Tim Pawlenty’s office. In typical Tim Pawlenty fashion he caved within a few hours agreeing to five additional debates, just as he caved on his no new taxes pledge, just as he caved to Democrats after sticking to his position to the point of a government shutdown two years ago.

While I am grateful the voters will get to see the candidates debate, I am a little baffled by the gutlessness we continue to see from this Governor. He canceled debate after debate, and then as soon as Peter Hutchinson challenges him on it he does a complete 180? This would be one thing if it was simply a campaign issue, but this is Pawlenty's leadership style. He leads doing what he believes is right until someone says something critical and then he instantly lays down and lets his political enemies walk all over him.

Shame on the Star Tribune

Apparently they are now using the results of their latest poll to justify excluding Robert Fitzgerald from their debate coverage. While I don't think candidates polling at 3% deserve equal coverage, I don't think a news organization does itself any good when they put stock in their poll and their poll only. Robert is polling at 8% in two seperate polls, and even the Klobuchar campaign doubts the results of the Minnesota poll. At it's best it is an outlier and until another poll confirms it's results it should be treated as such. Robert Fitzgerald did participate in that debate and he actually had something to say about the issues, it's a shame that the Star Tribune isn't willing to report his stance on the issues, rather falling back on the meaningful, but less informative quotes regarding his lack of special interest or partisan ties.

Patricia Lopez And Jay Weiner need to hear from you, the editorial board at the Star Tribune needs to hear from you. They don't have a right to influence an election in this manor and at the same time call themselves Journalist. The Minnesota poll is a joke that absolutely effects the election, and everyone knows it. The Star Tribune cheats and we can't let them get away with it.

As always when contacting the media keep it respectful as you have the greatest effect that way.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Debate Minnesota

Just got a confirmation that Binkowski will debate Thursday, and Robert Fitzgerald is confirmed for October 10th. It might have been more fun if they denied Binkowski, but having fun when you need to be debating doesn't often get a candidate elected. Pretty good review of Binkowski's performance last night.

The 2 way race begins

Monday, September 18, 2006

It's opening day again

Didn't I just post about the opening day of Spring training for the Twins? I think I said something about how they would be pretty good, but quickly relized how wrong I was, hmm maybe that was a long time ago.

Anyways the Wild play there first preseason game Tuesday night, and look to be headed for a great season. The offseason additions of Pavel Demitra along with Saint Cloud State's Mark Parrish are certain to elevate the offense to near elite levels, and the defense seems to be seeing an upgrade as well with Kim Johnnson and Kieth Carney coming in. In my opinion goaltending can only get better due to the absence of the extreamly overrated Dwayne Roloson who finally figured out how to win a game in Edmonton. While we might not get as great of a season out of Manny Fernendez this year as last we absulutly should get more wins out of the backup spot.

Overall I would make a similar prediction as I did for the Twins, this team is an absulute contender but it will take a few breaks for them to go all the way.

In any event I look forward to a great night watching Wild hockey again, and a great season to come. As great and incomplete as the Twins run is I'm ready for hockey again.

John Binkowski hits 5%

Survey USA reports John Binkowski to be at 5% in their latest poll.

According to debate Minnesota all candidates at 5% or above will be invited to debate this Thursday. Based on there actions in the last week or so I'm not optimistic they are willing to stick to there word even though there is not a single poll showing Binkowski at under 5% and there are only a total of 2 polls showing any IP candidate at under 5% in both cases the Star Tribune Poll on the US Senate race although Fitzgerald otherwise polls at 5%, 8%, and 8%.

I'm sure Mary Heller at Debate Minnesota would love to take your call, contact her at(651) 687-9080, and ask her what her new excuse for excluding John is.

Star Tribune poll??????????

While we all know the Star Tribune poll is slated towards Democrats the results are still worth looking at. For one thing this is the poll that a lot of Minnesotans look at, and they view it as a credible poll. If we play it safe and say the slant weighs in 3% for the Democrat and 3% against the Republican while not effecting the Independence Party results at all,then were looking at Pawlenty at 45% Hatch at 39% with Hutchinson at 7% leaving 9% split between the minor candidates and undecided, which would be about in line with all the polls up until now with the only exception being that I think it's safe to say Hutchinson is on the rise especially following the debate. Of course the results they publish suggest to all Minnesotans they better not waste there vote so that is horrible news.

On the US Senate side things are even more ridicules. I don't doubt Kennedy is in the low 30's but it's laughable to suggest Klobuchar is that far above 50%. And generally when a candidate sees 5%, 8%, and 8% in other polls including 2 from the same group suggesting an upward trend they are not at 3%. With the Ad wars there is no doubt Fitzgerald could be back down around 5% but this is just silly. That being said a 56-32 margin suggest that there is no good reason to vote for your 2nd choice, so that will be very helpful to Fitzgerald. It seems even the Klobuchar campaign is doubting the accuracy of this poll based on their quote, if their #'s were anywhere close they wouldn't have lead on any doubt.

We'll see what happens when the Pioneer Press accurate poll comes out. And if your the editor of the Star Tribune you do need to replace your pollsters, or admit you are intentionally trying to get the wrong #'s. What the Star Tribune does is completely irresponsible and is damaging to Democracy.

As a side note the one person I talked to that was polled said she was not given Peter Hutchinson as an option for Governor. If it happened once I can only assume it happened more then once, and chances are on other occasions the respondent wasn't bold enough to still pick Hutchinson despite actually being more in favor of him then the other options.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

My Uneducated Decision (M.U.D)

Since I started voting I have always written in the name of whoever I felt was playing dirty politics for Soil and Water board, rather then using my uneducated knowledge of the race to simply guess I use my M.U.D vote with pride to make a personal statement about the recipient.

While the campaign is far from over and strange things can happen, I have to say Alan Fine is leading the battle to receive the M.U.D vote from me come November 7th. In 2004 Mary Kiffmeyer got my vote, in 2002 the honor went to Rick Kahn, but so far I have to say Alan Fine is blowing those two out of the mud.

I look forward to seeing how this statement gets taken out of context on Alan Fine's web site.

Fitzgerald web site relaunch

The Robert Fitzgerald for US Senate web site has been relaunched, including a broader range of issue statements. The Campaign has taken advantage of all that the internet offers to provide an interactive style to the site. Take a look.

Friday, September 15, 2006

Eveluating the candidates

Now that I've seen debates of all the major IP candidates I figured I would evaluate them.

Peter Hutchinson: My expectations were very low I thought Pawlenty would nail it Hatch would come up a bit short and Hutchinson would come off as a typical third party candidate. The reality is Peter stole the show which was made very clear when I listened to Pat Kessler on with Dan Barriaro's radio program.

Robert Fitzgerald: He established himself at the State Fair MPR debate. He will still need to distinguished himself more and work on taking the focus of the debate away from his opponents, but given the poll #'s and his performance He is very close to being taken seriously by the voting public.

John James: In style John comes off as the attorney general which is huge given with a Governor and US Senate race very few people will look at the substance in deciding on this race. If it does come down to substance John will be just fine. We won't see to many debates here and viewership will be limited so John 's success will come mostly outside of debating, but he did himself well today with his performances.

John Binkowski: He's only had the chance to debate Bachmann so far, as I said at that time he faired very well with great command on the issues. He may be better in the one on one media setting but like I say he only had the chance to debate one of his opponents so it's an incomplete picture at this point.

Tammy Lee: With Alan Fines actions, Tammy Lee didn't go out of her way to jump in as allowing Alan Fine to demonstrate himself as a non factor is a very Important element for Lee to have the greatest opportunity for victory. On the issues she did very well, but we will have to see more debates before we can get a complete picture.

Lucy Gerold also has had an auditor debate on Almanac but as of yet I have not viewed it.

I understand I probably come off as partisan by not calling any of our candidates mediocre, but this year the quality of candidates for the major races is incredible.

CD 5 MPR debate

Normally when a candidate is asked if they believe what they say the answer is quick and easy, even if it's a lie a real candidate says yes. Alan Fine proved today that he is not only unfit to lead in congress, but he is also proved he is unfit to debate with the real candidates. It's a shame that Alan Fines lack of a coherent message and confusion of how debates work distracted listeners from hearing Tammy Lee and Keith Ellison talk issues. Hopefully tonight on Almanac Alan's desire to distract will be for the most part ignored. Keith Ellison's background should be examined, but unless there’s more to it then so far revealed the attacks from Fine are completely out of place, let the bloggers do what they do, candidates should act like candidates.

Almanac CD 5 debate

The favorite, the contender, and the nut job will all be participating tonight on Almanac. Tammy Lee will get her first opportunity to show the voters that she is a major contender. Unfortunately you can expect Alan Fine to try to grab all the headlines as he continues to tell us how awful Keith Ellison is in the most disrespectful mannor possible, while at the same time giving the voters no reason to support Alan Fine or anyone else for that matter. Speaking of Alan Fine Doug Grow like me now completely regrets ever saying a good word about this man. Still Alan Fine's web site continues to proudly display the "endorsements" from Grow and myself on the front page of his website.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

The bodies back for tonight

After this afternoons debate the name Jesse Ventura was used throughout the media all in the positive sense to describe Peter Hutchinsons dominating performance. As someone who was 19 years old in 1998 the positive memories of Ventura in 1998 "shocking the world" are among my greatest memories.

I felt real good after the debate, I feel even greater after hearing Hutchinsons first radio ads this afternoon. Peter Hutchinson is about to follow the same path Jesse Ventura paved in 1998, it's good to be a Minnesotan today.

The Independence Party wins on the issues

Theres a reason the Republicans want the issues of the 2006 election to be Keith Ellison and the Democrats want the issues to be Michele Bachmann, it's because when they actually stand on there own they come up well short on the issues.

Todays Governor debate

The clear loser today was Mike Hatch, who was unconfident in his statements the entire hour, a complete jerk in the way he managed the clock (there are points that need to be made when the clock runs out, but you wrap it up and make damn sure it doesn't happen again on the next question let alone every question).

Peter Hutchinson hammered home his message with wit and charisma that made the MPR broadcasters compare his debate style to former Independence Party governor Jesse Ventura. His two opponents did not counter the substance of his message even when it was critical that they rebound from Hutchinson statement.

Pawlenty was rock solid, this guy is Governor for a reason, but he didn't play it completely safe, and had a few did he really go there moments. He was on the attack on Hutchinson, which suggest he see's Hutchinson as a real player in this race for those not satisfied with the fiscal policy of the governor and the overall direction of the Republican party.

I think Pawlenty is the overwhelming favorite but if he should happen to lose it would be to Hutchinson not Hatch.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Alan Fine

I've made numerous request to the Alan Fine Campaign to have my out of context quote off his his website, the Alan Fine campaign has failed to remove the quote (by the way when taking a quote out of context you still need to have some level of honesty by ending it with a ...)

In light of Alan Fine's insane actions today in regards to Keith Ellison's victory I am forced to give an accurate view of what I think of Alan Fine.

Alan Fine is a man who doesn't know what leadership is. And if the impossible happened and Alan Fine was elected he would absolutely not bring leadership to Washington. And while I have no reason to say Alan Fine does not respect the law, I do know without a shadow of a doubt that he has no respect for democracy.

If your an Alan Fine supporter (not to be confused with a Republican who simply votes for the letter next to the name) do your candidate a favor and defend him. If Alan Fine's believes what he said about Ellison today he has only one option to help defeat Ellison, Alan Fine should drop out of the race, and make sure the puppy is getting proper care. The quest for 15% might be a fun game for Alan, but congress is serious business, and while I would never suggest a candidate doesn't have the right to run it is clear he is on a mission to see Keith Ellison lose, and reality tells us that only a serious candidate can make that happen.

I find it comical...

When certain candidates call other candidates embarrassments. To call another candidate an embarrassment you should probably make sure you yourself are credible, competent, and qualified.

At this point in the campaign it is the Republicans role to call Keith Ellison an embarrassment, but they shouldn't make the puppy do it. Alan Fine is not capable of saying anything that will be taken seriously, and more importantly Alan Fine is not a real Republican he is simply a candidate who picks and chooses what party to run in by who he perceives offers up the weakest opposition. Real Republicans with real credibility should call Ellison unfit for office if they believe it to be the case.

The GOP needs to look long and hard before they decide to give Keith Ellison a free pass by making the puppy do their dirty work. Of course they decided back in June to give Keith Ellison a free pass when they decided not to run a real candidate.

With 25% of precincts reporting

On the SOS website this morning we still see only 25% reporting in races the media has down for 99% if not 100%. It appears Mary Kiffmeyer couldn't care less about informing the public of last nights results. The sad reality is that we might as well expect more accurate reporting from the media then the SOS office. Maybe I could give Kiffmeyer a pass on this sort of thing if she hadn't made it an objective to misinterpret and or choose to ignore laws on a case by case partisan basis. Maybe I could give her a pass if she hadn’t intended on using fear tactics suggesting there would be people that smell like flowers blowing things up at elections two years ago, and maybe I could give her a free pass if she truly pushed for a more informed public, but all the free passes were used up long ago. On November 7th it's time to fire Mary Kiffmeyer. It would be great if we had Instant run off voting so we could fire her while at the same time keep our options open for who we hire to replace her, but she has worked hard to prevent that option from seeing the light of day.

On again off again debates

Friday's US Senate debate is off, Fridays Governors debate is off, Fridays CD 5 debate so far is on, Thursdays Governors debate so far is on although the fact the media might pick it up to replace the cancled debate Friday clearly leaves that in doubt. A CD 6 debate next Monday appears to be on at this point.

Independence Party candidates are ready to debate any chance they get, while we can figure out why Tim Pawlenty isn't debating, it is completly shocking that Mark Kennedy and Mike Hatch are afraid to debate. The reality can only be that those campaigns have determined that those candidates don't have what it takes to stand on the issues and convince Minnesotans to vote for them.

Primary night a success

The non election that we pretend is an election is over with no endorse candidates lost. I arrived at the IP primary night late following the Twins game with only one race uncalled that being the Attorney General race where a tight four way split left him at 31% at around 11 PM, the next few updates increased his lead from 3% to 5% and the race was called just before midnight followed almost immediately by a WCCO radio interview.

The other race that mattered for the Independence Party was the 5th CD DFL race. For Tammy Lee to win it pretty much had to be Keith Ellison, and while the lawn sign wars suggested a different dynamic in this race then was thought a month or two ago this race played out exactly as I predicted out of the convention with Ellison edging Erlandson and Ember finishing a distant third.

Primary's are the place where everything can go wrong and next to nothing can go right, but it turned out to go nearly perfect for the IP tonight. There was one house race in 58B where things turned out bad, but it sounds like the winner there might not make it to the November ballot for other reasons so that may just work itself out, and the more deserving candidate may still be in this thing.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

John James for Attorney General

John James for Attorney General, John James for Attorney General, John James for Attorney General, John James for Attorney General, John James for Attorney General.

I do this because he is the one challenged IP endorsed candidate who people don't know and is running against the guy that while unendorsed was the IP candidate in 2002. I have had several Google hits here for this other candidate, and am a little concerned if nothing else I would expect John to be the closest among IP endorsed candidatesto being upset. If you haven't voted yet make sure to go out there and make a point out of voting John James.

By mom didn't vote James because she didn't remember who to vote for, luckily she decided to leave it blank rather then guess wrong.

Early primary returns

US Senate Robert Fitzgerald 1Congress Minnesota's 5th district Tammy Lee 1Governor Peter Hutchinson 1Secretary of State Joel Spoonhiem 1Attorney General John James 1

Update 11:29 assuming my parents didn't make any mistakes you can increase those results to 3 for everyone. I'd love to hear from a Pam Ellison Stephen Williams or Miles Collins voter if your out there.

Fairly decent crowd voting this morning, I imagine the DFL primary will drive turnout in the 5th which should boost Becky Lourey to around 30%, and the 5th will probably determine who wins the Attorney General's race although I couldn't begin to guess what direction, or how different the voting in the 5th will be from the rest of the state.

New Zogby poll, Double Digits?

The reports on zogby never include Robert Fitzgerald, but since they last polled August 28th Amy Klobuchar is down 8 tenths or a percent, and Mark Kennedy is down 1.9% which means undecided and Robert Fitzgerald voters have to be up a combined 2.7%, Robert was at 8% in the Rasmussen poll that same week, and made people notice him at the State Fair debate. The math says 2.7 plus 8 equals double digits, that would be a great place to be on primary day.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Vote Endorsed today

Even though a primary is not an election and should not in any way be treated like one, our silly laws give citizens the opportunity to muck up what the party delegates do, and while some will consider that a good thing it is not. The only way you can fix the problem of polarizing parties is to not vote for any candidates who run with the parties you see as part of the problem. If in November you intend to support the party system then you should do your part in the primary to support only endorsed candidates.

In the case of the Independence Party the three endorsed candidates facing primary challenges are Peter Hutchinson for Governor, John James for Attorney General, and Robert Fitzgerald for US Senate. An upset in either of those three races could be a fatal blow to this party as none of the challengers show any sign of being ready for the challenge ahead of them should they move on to November.

In the other somewhat competitive races vote Hatch, Ellison, and Kelley on the DFL side and Pawlenty on the Republican side. The time to support others was in March at the cacuses, and moving forward our of cacuses as the dynamics of these races changed.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Gotta love the media

So far the big media in this state has done no stories on Robert Fitzgerald, they've covered debates and the convention, but have not gone in depth into who this Robert Fitzgerald guy is.

But hey it's primary time so they go out of there way to give the lovable losers of all major parties equal coverage. Sure Miles Collins and Steven Williams are in the same league as the Republican and Democrat challengers, but come on give Robert Fitzgerald some coverage that isn't based upon the fact they wanted to write an article about Amy and Mark. When you start quoting Miles Collins, you throw away every excuse you ever used to ignore candidates like Robert Fitzgerald John Binkowski and Tammy Lee.

Of course the tired old line that they couldn't use there job to influence an election, is always a great fall back.

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Anoka County primary

The Star Tribune takes a look at the candidates stance on a Viking football stadium, and attached outrageous spending. The bottom line if you don't like a debatable billion dollar statewide burden placed on one county vote James Hafner, and Janelle Kirkeide. If your a gullible sports fan that votes based on fear do something else.

If you live in Anoka County and care about this issue vote in the primary, because after the primary one side or the other probably won't have a dog in the fight

And remember in November that only one candidate for Governor is willing to stand up to the potential farce that will happen if the wrong people are elected in Anoka County, and his name is Peter Hutchinson.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

The terrorist are out to get us

The election is only 2 months away. That can only mean scare tactics from the GOP. It's time to talk about terrorist. If this is good policy it should have happened 6 months ago. The fact that this immediately gets sent out in an E-mail by the chair of the Republican national committee 60 days prior to the election suggest it is nothing more then a campaign tool.

Dear Mike,

It's very simple. Our government has no more basic obligation than to protect the American people in a time of war. Today, President Bush outlined the steps America is taking to question and detain the world's most violent terrorists, and announced legislation to try these terrorists before military commissions.

Read the President's speech and watch the video.

Because of interrogation programs by the CIA, our nation has gained invaluable intelligence that has saved American lives. Interrogations of terrorists including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, have led to the arrests of al Qaeda operatives planning to carry out attacks inside the United States and revealed the terror network's plan to obtain biological weapons. In one chilling interrogation, Mohammed described instructing his operatives to set off explosions in buildings at points high enough to prevent those trapped from escaping out of the windows.

These new revelations are a clear reminder that the threat is real, and that we must pursue victory in this war with all our might. Because a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year put the CIA's interrogation program at risk, the President is sending legislation to Congress to specifically authorize the creation of military commissions to try these suspected terrorists for war crimes. When this legislation is passed, the people our intelligence agencies believe orchestrated 9/11 can face justice.

Watch key excerpts of the President's address and write a letter to the editor on these important efforts to keep Americans safe.

Time and time again, some Democrats in Washington have questioned why our government needs tools like these to prevent attacks on American soil. They have questioned the terrorist surveillance program, and bragged about "killing" the Patriot Act. The #2 Democrat in the Senate even likened America's interrogation practices to those in Nazi or Soviet concentration camps.

Americans now have the facts about these vital efforts to prevent future attacks. The terrorists in American custody are not just innocent bystanders. They are dangerous murderers who would kill again if set free. Take a stand and ensure our military and intelligence agencies continue to have every tool they need to fight this threat.

Sincerely,

Ken MehlmanChairman, Republican National Committee

It should be noted that George Bush has served about 2000 days, and in that time less then 3000 Americans have been killed by terrorist, that’s an average of less then 1.5 per day. Under George Bush the door has been left wide open for the big one should the terrorist choose to go that route. Our security seems to amount to identifying chatter which we do a good job of, but as September 11th 2001 demonstrated we aren't perfect. If Bush and the GOP lead congress are unable to protect us they should move the focus to issues they are ready and willing to adequately deal with, instead of trying to win elections with scare tactics.

Vote September 12th

While none of the IP candidates have strong primary challenges it is important to get as many informed voters voting in the IP primary September 12th. If you don't vote you can expect the cowards in the DFL to try to overthrow the IP endorsed candidates. Not only that but the stronger the turnout is the more the media will pay attention moving forward. I'll proudly be voting in the primary for the first time ever voting for all endorsed candidates, and would strongly recommend that you stick to endorsed candidates as well. In fact regardless of what party you vote with September 12th I encourage you to vote for endorsed candidates as the parties desires should not be overthrown at least until November.

8%, 8%

Both Robert Fitzgerald and Peter Hutchinson are polling at 8% in the latest round of polls. From my perspective the Fitzgerald poll #'s are more encouraging as he has done it on a low budget with low expectations and now is getting the debate opportunity to start impressing more and more Minnesotans who don't yet know him.

Still looking at the supporters of others it is clear they feel Peter Hutchinson is a significant factor. They have created attack blogs, are unwilling to say his actual poll #'s, and aggressively try to damage his campaign. Given the circumstances I still say Robert Fitzgerald is in better position to win, but luckily for Hutchinson as support for Fitzgerald increases it will also increase his support, and it may turn into across the board success. The next round of polls are big, as one of the candidates has to hit double digits soon, but there is plenty of room for optimism following last Fridays debate, and the work the Hutchinson campaign is doing.

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Whats Alan Fine afraid of?

Alan Fine's website was relaunched in the last few days, and for a while it was linking to my blog again because in a certain context I said something that was halfway decent about him once. The Alan Fine campaign seems to be pretty dang proud of my "endorsement" yet for some odd reason they once again decided it wasn't such a good idea to link to this blog.

A small portion of my quote is on the front page of Alan Fine's web site yet Alan Fine would rather people not visit this blog. If I'm not a real supporter as I clearly am not maybe Alan Fine and his campaign staff would be wise not to include a quote from me on his web site, let alone the front page of his web site. We have enough liars in Washington as it is.

The truth is after the DFL primary this race comes down to two candidates, Tammy Lee and the DFL primary winner. Alan Fine's dog and pony show might get him an OK portion of the vote, but it won't put him anywhere near victory.

CD 5 DFL debate

I just said I'll be watching the Twins game tonight, but I just found out there will be a CD 5 DFL primary debate on channel 45 at 8. Given the poll #'s this debate could decide the race. Unfortunately I don' know how to watch from the perspective of a DFL voter so I won't learn to much if I watch, but I'll be sure to see what the liberal blogs are saying.

Looks like the Twins are in this thing

During the State Fair I wasn't able to check the paper to see how the White Sox were doing so I just assumed they built up a decent size lead as the Twins were losing to the Royals and Yankees, but it looks like the Twins have a half game advantage going into the final 26 games. With Johan Santana going against some guy with an ERA over 5 tonight things are looking real good.

Liriano will be back eventually and Bonser is adequately replacing Radke. It will still probably come down to the final 3 game series with the White Sox, but there’s a good chance it will only take 1 win there rather then 3. I look forward to my first chance to see Phil Nevin tonight, so far I haven't missed anything there but he's bound to hit a few balls out. It's the first week of September and the Twins have 4 guys in the lineup with over 20 HR's on the year. I'm really looking forward to getting back in the swing of things watching the Twins tonight.

Support is needed now

Robert Fitzgerald will have multiple debates requiring the media to take a closer look at him, however Tammy Lee and John Binkowski will potentially continue to be treated like afterthoughts by the media if we don't act now. Letters to the Editor, phone calls to news stations and any other action you can take to let the media know these candidates have widespread support are huge. The coverage is slowly getting better, but we need to do everything in our power to make sure we get fair media coverage from here on out.

Keep it short and to the point, try not to attack either the media source or political opponents, but get the message out there that these candidates are doing the things it takes to win an election, if and when the media starts to pay attention.

Monday, September 04, 2006

The Fair is over!!!!!!!!!!!!

I said before the fair that we would know if there was real hope by the end of the fair. Unfortunately the lack of a debate on the Governors side does not complete that picture. On the US Senate side though it is crystal clear that Robert Fitzgerald can win. His performance in the debate Friday was impressive, he will need to do better down the stretch run, but I have no reason to doubt he will. With many more debate opportunities including three in the last week Robert will get the equivalent of Multimillion in ad buys to spread his message. The opportunity to meet with the voters now moves to the campuses as school is opening up.

The voters are now on board with the election and things will happen rapidly from here on out. Team Minnesota has left for its stateWide tour; we are only a week away from the next senate debate. The primary will be over before we know it and all those distractions will be out of the way.

As for the governors race starting to clear out it should happen soon. The break down of the race absolutely requires Mike Hatch to debate soon, even if it's only him and Hutchinson. Pawlenty has a commanding lead which ad buys will not break. Mike Hatch will need to change course soon or his campaign is as good as over before it even started, and that requires he gets a real message out, and is willing to test his message face to face with an opponent.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Meet the Press

Independence Party US Senate candidate Robert Fitzgerald is doing Meet the Press Sunday!!! OK fine he's just calling a press conference at the State Fair to discuss trade policy with China, but I can confidently say he will be in that Meet the Press debate October 15th as well. Good response to the debate and media coverage that followed at the booth today. Things are looking good for the Fitzgerald campaigns and the momentum swing for the Independence Party overall.

Klobuchar can't follow the rules

The State fair makes it very clear that signs do not leave the booth unless there is a specific reason in which case all the signs are carried together by as few people as possible. Under no circumstances can a campaign parade signs around the fairgrounds without the fair running you down and making a scene and potentially voiding your booth lease for the remainder of the fair.

It should be noted the agreed upon debate rules also specifically stated no signs. Why can't Klobuchar and her campaign follow the rules? If this is any indication of how she will lead in Washington, then I say no thanks, we have enough corruption in Washington as it is.

Friday, September 01, 2006

Debates, polls, media excitement

Today was the big day: the first US Senate debate for Robert Fitzgerald. This was his time to show everyone that he belongs and he very clearly did so, while Mark Kennedy very clearly demonstrated he is not ready for a US Senate race.

While the Klobuchar campaign volunteers paraded around the state fairgrounds with their signs (with no regard to state fair rules, or the agreed upon rules for the debate setting) and dominated the audience, it's not so clear that she won the debate as simply coming off as less of a schmuck than Mark Kennedy, which is no major accomplishment. By all accounts, Fitzgerald was the voice of reason among the three candidates and did well for himself.

Even better news than that is that a new poll shows he has 8% going into the debate season. Given the number of televised debates and his performance today, victory is not at all out of the question.

Both Robert and John Binkowski had major radio appearances today, and are securing more and more media opportunities by the day. Robert appeared on the Jack Rice show on WCCO Radio this afternoon, tackling the issues with meaningful answers that the voters expect and demand. Binkowski took on Joe Soucheray on AM 1500 for a candidate grilling and did an outstanding job getting the vast majority of the audience to show vocal support. Afterwards, John worked the crowd like a guy who’s been at this for twenty years. Not so long ago,the paid shills for the Democrat and Republican parties were calling him a meaningless college student; now, the opposition from those two parties are running scared as they know John is an elite candidate. This kid (and I can call him a kid as I am 4 days older then John) is going to be president one day if he wants it.